Now where was I up to last time? That's right the school holidays...
We spent the last week of the October holidays in Albany chatting to Mum, seeing the familiar local sights and catching up with friends.
- We spent a day at Two-People's Bay - Bella went horse riding but the boys and I just walked on the Beach.
- We climbed Bluff Knoll and looked at the Stirling Ranges. The kids asked: "So why exactly are we doing this?" Connor made it 99% of the way to the top (about 3km of steep, rocky path and steps) - but, with the top just in sight and 100m away, he sat down and utterly refused to go another step further. I had used up all my treats, promting and promises a long way down the Moutain so I just sat next to him and decided to call that spot the "new top of the mountain"!
(Photos above.)
Mum was well, chatty and very busy (as usual) with group commitments, projects and walking Bindi every day.
The only negative for the trip was when poor little Tara was attacked by a Pitt Bull-looking dog in our back yard while Hamish was jumping on the trampoline. The kids were understandably freaked out. Poor Tara is still walking with a limp now (nearly four weeks later). It'll be interesting to see how she reacts next time we pull up in front of the Albany house - she may not want to get out of the car!
We didn't get a chance to catch up with Julian. We called in on the way back - but he wasn't in.
Then back to Perth and school once more.
Hamish is now busy with cricket training, cricket on Sundays and cricket practise in between whenever he can fit it in. So far Hamish's score for the season is 99 not out (they have to retired after 20 runs each game) - so he is very pleased with himself. He is currently reading Bryce Courtney's "The Power of One" and is enjoying the dubious language and the underlying theme of setting your goal and striving to reach it.
Bella is into swimming squad. Her best friend Stella is a gun swimmer and Bella is aiming to catch up with her so they can swim in the same squad level. As Stella is swimming about 2km for training already (and is the youngest swimmer in the club's history to get promoted to her current "bronze cap" level), Bella will have to do a lot of swimming to catch up with her. (Hamish is doing squad too - but very reluctantly).
Bella's birthday was last Friday and we gave her a hand-reared Weero (or Cockatiel - which is a little parrot - smaller than a Galah but bigger than a Budgie) called Nelson. He is very sweet and sits on her shoulder while she reads and plays the piano each morning. Bella is reading "Little House on the Prairie" - she is up to the first book (they are just building their log cabin) and is loving the story so far.
Connor's current passions are riding his bike, hunting for butterflies and eating as many lollies as we will let him have. He is very jealous of Bella's bird and thinks he should have been given something alive for his birthday too. I keep mentioning the worm farm we gave him (one of those narrow ones between two pieces of perspex so you can see what the worms are doing - or rather what they have done as you put the soil in with little marker layers of coloured sand in between so you can see the worms mix it up) - but he doesn't think this really counts as he had to catch the worms himself!
Mark has been home most of the last month, with perhaps just the one trip to Melbourne, but is off to Dubai next week (I think). He is coaching Hamish's cricket team this year - which Hamish is enjoying immensely.
Me? I have just been doing the same old round of domestic chores, exercise and social outings. No work at the moment as the rolling market research contract we had for a number of years has just finished and I am not keen on seeking out any more agricultural economics work. My latest plan is to do a Grad. Dip. Ed. over the next two years through Murdoch University in Primary Teaching and see what happens with this.
Now we are up to date once more...
We spent the last week of the October holidays in Albany chatting to Mum, seeing the familiar local sights and catching up with friends.
- We spent a day at Two-People's Bay - Bella went horse riding but the boys and I just walked on the Beach.
- We climbed Bluff Knoll and looked at the Stirling Ranges. The kids asked: "So why exactly are we doing this?" Connor made it 99% of the way to the top (about 3km of steep, rocky path and steps) - but, with the top just in sight and 100m away, he sat down and utterly refused to go another step further. I had used up all my treats, promting and promises a long way down the Moutain so I just sat next to him and decided to call that spot the "new top of the mountain"!
(Photos above.)
Mum was well, chatty and very busy (as usual) with group commitments, projects and walking Bindi every day.
The only negative for the trip was when poor little Tara was attacked by a Pitt Bull-looking dog in our back yard while Hamish was jumping on the trampoline. The kids were understandably freaked out. Poor Tara is still walking with a limp now (nearly four weeks later). It'll be interesting to see how she reacts next time we pull up in front of the Albany house - she may not want to get out of the car!
We didn't get a chance to catch up with Julian. We called in on the way back - but he wasn't in.
Then back to Perth and school once more.
Hamish is now busy with cricket training, cricket on Sundays and cricket practise in between whenever he can fit it in. So far Hamish's score for the season is 99 not out (they have to retired after 20 runs each game) - so he is very pleased with himself. He is currently reading Bryce Courtney's "The Power of One" and is enjoying the dubious language and the underlying theme of setting your goal and striving to reach it.
Bella is into swimming squad. Her best friend Stella is a gun swimmer and Bella is aiming to catch up with her so they can swim in the same squad level. As Stella is swimming about 2km for training already (and is the youngest swimmer in the club's history to get promoted to her current "bronze cap" level), Bella will have to do a lot of swimming to catch up with her. (Hamish is doing squad too - but very reluctantly).
Bella's birthday was last Friday and we gave her a hand-reared Weero (or Cockatiel - which is a little parrot - smaller than a Galah but bigger than a Budgie) called Nelson. He is very sweet and sits on her shoulder while she reads and plays the piano each morning. Bella is reading "Little House on the Prairie" - she is up to the first book (they are just building their log cabin) and is loving the story so far.
Connor's current passions are riding his bike, hunting for butterflies and eating as many lollies as we will let him have. He is very jealous of Bella's bird and thinks he should have been given something alive for his birthday too. I keep mentioning the worm farm we gave him (one of those narrow ones between two pieces of perspex so you can see what the worms are doing - or rather what they have done as you put the soil in with little marker layers of coloured sand in between so you can see the worms mix it up) - but he doesn't think this really counts as he had to catch the worms himself!
Mark has been home most of the last month, with perhaps just the one trip to Melbourne, but is off to Dubai next week (I think). He is coaching Hamish's cricket team this year - which Hamish is enjoying immensely.
Me? I have just been doing the same old round of domestic chores, exercise and social outings. No work at the moment as the rolling market research contract we had for a number of years has just finished and I am not keen on seeking out any more agricultural economics work. My latest plan is to do a Grad. Dip. Ed. over the next two years through Murdoch University in Primary Teaching and see what happens with this.
Now we are up to date once more...
6 comments:
The kids asked: "So why exactly are we doing this?"
Because it's there? (Standard mountaineer's answer -- may not work for small children.)
Her best friend Stella is a gun swimmer and Bella is aiming to catch up with her
What on Earth is a gun swimmer? (Someone who hurls themselves into the water at the sight or sound of a starting pistol?)
Yes..yes very clever and accurate definition!
Is the term "gun" an australianism?
Wow -- thanks for the catch-up!
Poor Tara -- undisciplined pit-bulls with equally undisciplined, tough-looking owners proliferate over here too.
So: Bella and Stella -- a rhyming couplet? Seriously impressed by Stella's 2km training swims: I think I'm doing well when I rack up 1km (60 lengths). The best I've managed so far is 1 mile (100 lengths). I shall think of Bella when I go to the pool for my swimming exercise. Am also impressed that she is learning piano -- does this mean you've acquired a proper piano, or does she have an electronic keyboard to practise on?
Sympathy for Connor: I remember finding it a struggle up Bluff Knoll when I was dragged there as a kid, and think I stopped short of the top. Didn't think of declaring a new top of the mountain at the spot I sat down, though! And fond though I am of our (non-see-through) worm farm, having a worm perch on your shoulder is just not the same as a cockatiel. They're popular pets here too -- to judge by the number I've seen in pet shops. Joseph won't let me get a tank of fancy fishies though.
Yes, teaching certificate seems something that can be used as a way into various types of interesting work that fit in with school hours -- or even for normal teaching job.
Is the term "gun" an australianism?
It would appear so, because I've never heard of it before.
Joseph won't let me get a tank of fancy fishies
Principally because there's nowhere to put it. In addition, a tank of fish would require a lot more care and attention than a couple of dolls' houses. So be content with those!
Do we have a proper piano?
No just a pretty unfancy keyboard. I would like a piano - but we don't really have the room at the moment.
On the topic of fish tanks...
They don't really require a lot of looking after time - unless you get really fanatical about it (on the other hand there is a danger this could happen).
We just drop in a few flakes most days when we remember and clean out the tank every few weeks (less often than we should I am sure).
However, fish don't sit on your shoulder either - and I guess they do take up a little space.
Post a Comment